Mortlake on the Schuylkill

A place for me to discuss recent book acquisitions, my academic and other writing, my reading of fiction and poetry, and my enjoyment of popular culture. About the name: John Dee (1527-1609) kept a considerable library at his home in Mortlake, Surrey on the outskirts of London.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Book Love

JLA # 8 delivered this nice set up the upcoming JLA/JSA crossover:

Other stuff happened, but the high point for me was the exchange between Batman and Power Girl on the splash-page:

Why did this exchange lead me to geek out?

(1) It's two superheroes discussing a book.(2) They're discussing a seventeenth-century book!(3) Power Girl collects early modern books on siege warfare.

She's not cramming on siege warfare, mind you, she's just improving her collection.

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Since you asked

Luke Handley poses a series of questions in his review of JSA #4 at Silver Bullet Comics. Several other reviewers have echoed the same theme.

Here's what he said:

All in all, I like the look of this new Society and do have hopes for the future. Except for one thing. Could someone please explain to me how the hell Power Girl is a good choice for the new Chairman? Chairwoman. Or is the PC version Chairperson nowadays? Never mind. The point is, why? As I said, I’m far from a DC historian, but is there anything in this character’s history that suggests she can coordinate and lead the largest and arguably most powerful assemblage of heroes in the world? Maybe Johns thought it was time to have a female leader, and in that context I guess there’s not much choice. Having said that, Stargirl almost seems a more logical choice for the role.

To his specific question: is there anything in this character’s history that suggests she can coordinate and lead the largest and arguably most powerful assemblage of heroes in the world?

My short answer: Hell yes.

(When time allows, a longer reply will follow.)

Update (4.5.07): I suppose that Mr. Handley now plans to cut and paste a version of this paragraph into his review of JLA #7, replacing the words Power Girl with Black Canary.